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Perry plastic Russian review

04 Jul
Perry plastic Russian box art

Perry plastic Russian box art

Another week, another review. This time it is going to be Perry plastic Russians. I know these have been for sale since Salute or in other words a couple of month now, but mine only arrived last week and I have not seen any in-depth reviews of them since, so I wanted to give them a go after all.

Contents of the box:

With the box set you get a total of 40 minis.
There are 36 plastic soldiers spread out over six  sprues, each containing six different minis. Also included is a four-mini command sprue. They all come with separate heads and backpacks. Each sprue comes with enough (four in case of the command sprue, six for the infantry) heads to equip all men with either 1809 Kiwer, 1812 Kiwer or fatigue cap. The infantry sprues also come with two grenadier Kiwers each of the 1809 and 1812 pattern. The backpacks are all cast with the swords and ammo pouch hanging down from them. The ammo pouches all come plain, without any plaques and such, so one is free to us them for both grenadiers and musketeers.

Command sprue

Command sprue

Infantry sprue

Infantry sprue

Also included in the box are the usual bases and a two-sided A5 sheet with historic uniform information (sword knot, shoulderboard and pompom colours) and flags. The sheet contains five flags. The white Colonel´s flag and Regimental flags for the Simbirsk Regiment, Regiments of Marines (1st to 4th Regiments), the Vilna Regiment and the Tarnopol Regiment. Since the sheet is printed on heavy and glossy paper one would need to photocopy the flags for use. The flags are quiet nice, only the shadows are a bit strong for my taste. The quality is good enough that one does not need to use aftermarket flags.

Leaflet [front side]

Leaflet
[front side]

Leaflet [back side]

Leaflet
[back side]

Price (as in June 2012):

This box set retails for 18 GB£, which equals 0,45 GB£ per mini and also includes bases. (BTW this means that together with their British infantry this is the highest per mini price of their plastic sets.) By comparison the Warlord sets (a review of them can be found here by the way) cost 0,56 GB£ per mini or 0,62 GB£ in case of the Pavlov Grenadiers. So this puts them on the cheap end of plastic Russians on the market. And they are cheaper than metals as well. For example Front Rank are 1,15 GB£ per mini (or 1,08 GB£ if part of a Battalion pack) and Foundry are 1,50 GB£ per mini.

Detail:

The detail is good and as crisp as usual with the Perry plastics, but not quiet up to the level of metal minis. The undercuts are minimal. There were no mould misalignments, but the rest of the quality is a bit of a mixed bag. Half the sprues were fine with only minimal mould lines, but the other half had quiet heavy flash and also sinkholes on top the Kiwers. This is the first I have seen that in their plastics and I hope I only got a bad batch and not a sign, that the quality control on their plastics is not going the same way as on their metals.

Compatibility:

So now it comes to one of te most interesting part… how do they compare to other manufacturers?

I had both Foundry and Warlord minis here. The style of sculpting is vastly similar with all manufacturers. This does not come as much of a surprise, since the Foundry Russians are Perry designed and Warlord and Perry are cooperating on their Napoleonic ranges.

The Perry’s are about as tall as the Foundry minis and a little smaller than the Warlord´s. This is enhanced by the fact that the Perry´s (as well as Foundry) have thinner bases. The heft is comparable on the Perry, Foundry and Warlord metals. The Warlord plastics have a stronger heft and less detail though. One can see a real difference with the muskets. Both Warlord and Foundry are thicker then Perry. The Warlord muskets are the longest and the Foundry ones the shortest with Perry being in the middle. In the end one should be able to mix all manufacturers in one unit and even on one base (if you do not mind the muskets).

Size comparison

Size comparison
[Left to right: Warlord (metal), Warlord (plastic), Perry and Foundry]
Click for a larger version

One thing that did strike me was the interchangeability between the Perrys and Warlord, or rather the lack of it. I would have expected this to be high since they are cooperating on their Napoleonic releases. While one would not need to be able to mix and match backpacks, I thought that mixing their heads would give people more variety. But this is not going to be that easy. With the Perry minis the uniform collar is sculpted as part of the body, with Warlord it is sculpted as part of the head. So if you want to fit a Warlord head onto a Perry body you need to carve off one of the collars. If you want to do it the other way round you need to sculpt a collar.

Conclusion:

The Perry offering what one can ask for. They are the cheapest plastic Russians around, the detail and animation are good and the castings are generally crisp. If the flash and sinkholes on half my sprues are not a trend, this is all one can ask for and they are definitely recommended.

 

11 responses to “Perry plastic Russian review

  1. Johan TSA

    July 4, 2012 at 08:05

    Though some people may like that, neither the Warlord Nor the Perry Russians give you the same versitality as e.g the Perry French or British, where you had at least some conversion possibilities.
    Their Prussian and now the Russian infantry can only have some head variations.But they are cheap indeed and that’s the other advantage of plastics.

    Like

     
    • Burkhard

      July 4, 2012 at 08:26

      I fear this is mostly due to people complaining about having to assemble the firing minis. Real shame since I liked the variety offred by the Perry and Victrix British or the Victrix non-greatcoated French. But then I only see these as an option to beef up number and will still use enough metals. 😉

      Like

       
  2. vonpeterhimself

    July 4, 2012 at 08:57

    Another excellent public service Burkhard. Thank you.

    I’m surprised to hear about the poorly produced sprues. Hopefully this is not a trend.

    If I have a disappointment with these Russians it is that they are wearing the summer over trousers and not the gaiters. A personal preference only. Not that it really matters as I’ve already bought most of my Russian infantry and they’re all metal. Such is war! 8O)

    Salute
    von Peter himself

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    • Burkhard

      July 4, 2012 at 09:11

      Thank you vP!

      It is much the same for me regarding the Russians. I still have tons of Foundry Russians (bought their Regimental / Army offer three years ago) and three boxes of Warlord Russians lying arond. Between those three I should get a nice mix and have all the infantry I need!

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  3. Dave

    July 5, 2012 at 03:38

    Wonderful review, I can check out the figures without having to resort to begging or purchasing. The Perry looks very nice but the WL plastic seems to have more interest to it.

    Thinking out loud, when you have exactly the same pose with only head variant does it draw attention to the fact that the torsos etc are all the same or not?

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  4. Burkhard

    July 8, 2012 at 08:55

    Hi Dave,

    glad you liked it! Not having painted them yet, I can not say 100% if the differenttorso would draw the attention from the heads but I would say so. The variation in the Warlord minis is big enough to make them look different. Plus I would say that you can do a lot with the paintjob as well (different colour of hair, non-regulation beard, stubbles).

    Like

     
  5. Burkhard

    July 10, 2012 at 09:23

    For those interested, this review sparked some uniform comments from a Russian member on TMP that I wanted to share:

    Some notes on Napoleonic Russian uniforms

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  6. Ben AKA Victorious Secret

    July 12, 2012 at 12:50

    Hi Burkhard,

    Thank you for the review sir! This is really great. I have learned alot and know what to get now.

    I also add your blog to my blog. YAY!

    Warm regards to you and your family,

    Ben

    Like

     
    • Burkhard

      July 12, 2012 at 13:31

      Thank you Ben!

      Your blog has given me a lot of joy ever since I found it a couple ofweeks ago, too! 😉 [Just realised I had fogotten to add it to my blogroll, which has been corrected now!]

      Like

       
  7. J RUTH

    July 7, 2014 at 02:43

    Thanks for the size review, it makes purchases so much safer.

    Like

     
    • Burkhard

      July 7, 2014 at 09:16

      Thank you. Always happy if this helps one or two people!

      Like

       

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